


Been Searching for His Sons

by little_alien_duck



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, basically hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:12:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24915907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_alien_duck/pseuds/little_alien_duck
Summary: Short piece about the Stoll Brothers and their father, set shortly after they arrived at camp.
Relationships: Connor Stoll & Travis Stoll, Hermes & Connor Stoll, Hermes & Travis Stoll
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	Been Searching for His Sons

They’d snuck out for perfectly innocent reasons. 

Well, children of Hermes rarely did anything for innocent reasons, but they couldn’t be blamed for stealing; their father was the god of thieves after all.

The whole operation had gone south in a big way. The problem was that sons of Hermes or not, they were ten and nine years old with barely any demigod training. It wasn’t stealing from the convenience store down the road that was the issue. That was easy. It was the hellhound that attacked them on their way home.

The worst part was that they were almost back to camp. Just a half a mile left and they would have been over the border and safe.

Travis was scared. He was alone. Travis wasn’t supposed to be alone. That’s what he had a brother for. The two of them were inseparable. Most of the kids at camp couldn’t tell them apart despite the fact that they’d been there for a couple months.

_ It’s my fault _ , Travis thought. Sitting on frost-hard ground, he pulled his knees up to his chest and tried to not to cry. A searing pain flared from his shoulder through his whole chest. The hellhound had given him a nasty cut before he managed to kill it. By that point Connor was nowhere to be seen. Between the darkness and the trees and the chaos the two had been separated.

_ Connor is my little brother. I’m supposed to protect him.  _

A sob escaped his lips, shaking his shoulders and his injury along with it. That only made him cry harder. He didn’t know how far he was from the border, but the thought of crossing it without Connor was unbearable. All he wanted to do was sit in the cold that stung his cheeks and never even think about moving again.

Travis pressed his forehead against his knees and bit back a scream. He’d had run-ins with monsters before, but the gash on his back throbbed in a way that was too large for a ten year old body to handle.

There was a pop and the air in the woods seemed to bend suddenly. Travis was no longer alone. With all of the determination he could demand from tired, scared self, he willed his trembling torso into stillness. If he was lucky, the darkness would hide him. Children of Hermes were good at hiding.

“Travis,” a soft voice said. It was one that tugged at the corners of his memory. He’d only met his father a handful of times in his life, but he remembered each one. 

Children of Hermes were good at hiding, but Hermes was better at finding them.

“Dad?”

Travis looked up at his father with eyes still clouded by fear and tears, and Hermes’s heart ached. He stood before his son holding a bundle of ambrosia and a concern that seemed impossibly large. In his jogging clothes, he looked like he might be a normal dad instead of the messenger of the gods.

“I’m here.” Quicker than any mortal, Hermes knelt and handed Travis the ambrosia. “Eat this, it will make you feel better.” He sat next to Travis on his uninjured side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

As he ate, Travis could feel the wound closing. A warmth radiated through his body, though he wasn’t sure if that was due to the ambrosia or the fact that his father didn’t move away when Travis leaned against him. Once the wound shrank beneath the torn fabric of his shirt, Hermes put an arm around him.

“Dad?” Travis whispered. He almost didn’t want to ask his question. He was too scared of the answer.

“Yes, son?” Hermes looked down at Travis’s curly head which leaned against his chest. He wasn’t shaking as he had been before, but he wasn’t relaxed either. An invisible weight was slowly crushing him. 

“Is… is Connor alright?”

His voice trembled with fear. Hermes wasn’t sure if it warmed his heart or broke it. The way Travis cared for his brother was a welcome change in a family as messy and complicated as that of the Olympians. On the other hand, Travis was ten. Caring about another person that deeply was hard. He shouldn’t have to feel the weight of that responsibility. Hermes wanted him, all of his children, to get to just be kids. It was rare that it actually happened that way. 

“Yes, he’s alright. He made it across the border, looking for help.”

Travis nodded. He relaxed against his father’s side. The fabric of his Athens Marathon tee shirt was the kind of soft that only comes from being worn over and over again. It smelled like laundry straight from the dryer and the wind.

Travis’s eyelids fluttered. He was tired, exhausted really. Fighting a hellhound will do that to you, even discounting the fact that two nights before he’d stayed up almost all night pranking the Hephaestus cabin with some of his siblings. Then he’d spent the last two days hiding from the very angry Hephaestus cabin, which was more work than it sounds.

“Alright kiddo, it’s time to get you home.”

Hermes lifted a half-sleeping Travis into his arms and started in the direction of camp. Travis mumbled something unintelligible. It might have been an objection to being carried, but even as he said it, his hand curled around the sleeve of Hermes’s shirt.

Hermes could have chosen to materialize them back at camp. He could have used his godly speed. He was the messenger of the gods, and he was fast.

He did not. He walked slowly, deliberately, savoring these moments he got to hold his son. Light streamed from the windows of the Big House. Hermes knew that just inside they would find Connor, still awake despite Chiron’s protests, waiting for his brother to come home.

As quietly as he could with a kid in his arms, Hermes eased open the door and stepped inside. Connor sat curled on the floor in front of the hearth, knees to his chest, in the same position Hermes had found Travis in the woods. There was a scratch on his cheek and bags under his eyes, but other than that he looked fine. 

Connor sprang to his feet when he heard the door open. A good thief’s ears were sharp enough to catch someone sneaking around.

“Dad! Travis! Dad, is he… is he okay?”

This time Hermes did smile. His boys really did care for each other.

“He’s fine, just sleeping.” Hermes sat heavily on the couch and patted the space next to him. Connor kicked off his sneakers and hopped onto the couch to sit next to his dad. He must have noticed how worn Hermes looked because he asked, “Are you mad at us? For sneaking out?”

Hermes tipped his head back and laughed softly.

“Mad at you for a very well executed theft? Of course not! I’m proud!” With his free hand, Hermes gently poked Connor in the stomach, making him giggle. Then with a sigh he said, “I just worry about you two. I worry about all of you.”

Connor’s forehead scrunched up in confusion. “You worry about us?” 

“Oh Connor, of course I worry about you. I love you.”

Hermes wrapped his free arm around his younger son and held him tight.

“I love you too, Dad,” Connor whispered. His eyes closed as his breath deepened. Soon he would join his brother in sleep. 

Hermes would be gone by morning. There is only so much time the messenger of the gods can ignore the others’ demands. But in that moment, Hermes held Travis and Connor as they slept.

If Chiron saw the three of them when he returned to check on Connor, he didn’t say a word of it. He just smiled to himself and pretended not to notice the god of thieves and travelers dozing with his sons.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!


End file.
